EA Games

A vulnerability in EA's Origin online gaming platform could allow remote hackers to run dangerous code on gamers' computers without permission, by perverting links used to load titles like Crysis 3, its been revealed. Identified by ReVuln researchers Luigi Auriemma and Donato Ferrante, and presented last week at the Black Hat security conference, the exploit relies on the URI links the Origin desktop client uses to trigger local software from the cloud, and which can be modified to install malware instead.

It seems like SimCity is just full of bad news. SimCity has received a lot of negative feedback for its ridiculous Always-On DRM feature. At first, EA stated that the Always-On DRM was added mainly because of security issues, but now its saying that it was added because the developers envisioned SimCity as "always-connected". Lucy Bradshaw, the General Manager of EA's Maxis label, stated that they had designed SimCity "with multiplayer in mind". By having the always-connected feature, they were able to create essentially an MMO.

Dead Space 3 has been doing well in the market place. The game launched at the beginning of last month, and was the top selling game throughout February. The game sold around 605,000 copies in February, knocking Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 down to second place. Other games Dead Space 3 beat include: Crysis 3, NBA 2K13, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Aliens: Colonial Marines 2013, Just Dance 4, Far Cry 3, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, and Madden NFL 13.

Battlefield lovers rejoice. Electronic Arts and DICE are going to be holding a special event for Battlefield 4 on March 26th at 7:00 p.m. PST. The Battlefield 4 event will take place in San Francisco, California at the 2013 Game Developers Conference. The invitation, received by Gamespot, says, "Please join us to celebrate a new era of Battlefield." Nothing else was mentioned on EA's invitation.

This past week the re-launch of the SimCity franchise was threatened with connectivity and crash problems galore - but according to the MAXIS label under EA Games, they're almost in the clear. Speaking as General Manager for the MAXIS label this weekend for a widespread blast this morning, Lucy Bradshaw gave a tentative nearly-all-clear with an assurance that "the core problem with getting in and having a great SimCity experience is almost behind us." Bradshaw also made it clear how much she appreciates those who have stuck with the development team in this hour of panic.

SimCity has updated its blog and has stated that its making good progress in restoring stability to its servers. Lucy Bradshaw, the General Manager of EA's Maxis Label, stated that tens of thousands of new players are logging into SimCity everyday. SimCity's launch on March 5th was admittedly a huge failure. The always-on DRM and the server issues with the game resulted in a majority of players being unable to login, download the game, or even unlock their game.

EA's SimCity launched with disastrous results. EA wanted to prevent piracy of the game, so they added the Always-On DRM feature that would require players to login to its online servers in order to play their game. While the Always-On DRM feature is good for protecting against piracy, it resulted in an unmitigated login disaster for SimCity. Many gamers were unable to login, downloads were severely slow, people weren't able to unlock their games, and many were unable to enjoy a game they've anticipated for so long.

If you're a fan of EA's game The Sims 3, a new expansion pack for the game has launched this week. The expansion pack is called The Sims 3 University Life and is available to download for Windows and Mac gamers now. If you buy the Origin download version of the upgrade pack you'll get some exclusive items, but it is available as a physical retail game as well.

Activision has announced that they will be moving away from the licensed games, meaning there will be fewer games from the James Bond, Transformers, Men in Black, and Spider-Man series. Rumor has it that James Bond will be seeing its end really soon. Activision is following the same move that Electronics Arts made back in 2008. EA Games president, Frank Gibeau, said at the time that "the days of licensed-based, 75-rated games copies are dead like the dinosaur."

Those who are fans of true horror games may like where this is going. It has been said that more "true" horror games will come when we finally make the move from disc to digital. The comments come by way of Cliff Bleszinski, who many will recognize from not only being a creative director with Epic Games, but also one of the people behind the Gears of War franchise. The interesting part here, the comment from Bleszinski came at the end of some rather normal Dead Space 3 talk.